Minutes: October 03, 2022
The Board of Carter County Commissioners met in regular session on Monday, October 3, 2022, in the Carter County Commission Board Meeting Room of the Carter County Courthouse at 214 Park Street in Ekalaka, Montana. Steve Rosencranz, Chairman; Rod Tauck, Vice Chair and Mike Watkins, Member; were present.
The meeting was called to order at 9:00 am.
There was no public comment
Fallon/ Carter County Extension Agent Amanda Williams and Sabre Moore Camp Needmore Board member called in to the meeting to recommend David Adams as the Camp Needmore Maintenance employee. They requested that he be hired as soon as possible.
Commissioners Tauck and Watkins gave a brief over view of the Montana Associations of Counties (MACo) meeting that they attended last week.
Dave Adams joined the meeting for an interview for the maintenance position at Camp Needmore. Commissioner Watkins made the motion to hire Dave to fill the position as maintenance at Camp Needmore. The position starts at $20.67 per hour, with the hours set by the Camp Needmore Board. Commissioner Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.
The commissioners reviewed correspondence and set up new laptops.
The meeting adjourned for lunch at 11:45 am and was called to order at 1:00 pm.
Airport Master Plan Meeting - Present: Kent Penney and Craig Canfield of KLJ Engineering. Troy Fruit, Dane Castleberry, and Greg Harris, Carter County Airport Board. Darin Pluhar, Plus flying Service, Clerk and Recorder Pam Castleberry and Attorney Corbit Harrington.
The wind study with two locations of the AWOS equipment has been completed and KLJ assured the group that the South position would be the choice of the FAA. The current plans have been submitted to the FAA for approval and will take several months for them to review.
The plans for the additional runway length would still need final approval from the FAA as well.
Instrument approach procedures can start now as they have been approved given that the plan will take approximately three years to complete.
There was debate between the attending pilots’ and the Engineers regarding the data and provided by the AWOS system and the best location based on the terrain and winds around the runway. The discussion included County Liability at the airport based on the expansion and upgrade. Liability would befall the FAA for the design specs. Maintenance would be the biggest liability at the Airport.
The Master Plan https://ekalaka.airportplan.net/ includes runway development, possible relocation of the Weed Department leaving the building to be used as terminal, additional hangars, and update roads and fences.
The 5-year Draft Capital Improvement Plan is required by the State of Montana and passed on to the FAA. It would include: 1. reimbursement for Master Plan 2. AWOS III 3. Land acquisition 4. Pavement maintenance 5. Environmental study 6. Right away easement
Commissioner Tauck made the motion to approve the current Capital Improvement Plan. Commissioner Watkins seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.
Commissioner Tauck made the motion to approve the grant funding for the newly installed beacon in the amount of $10,874.00. Commissioner Watkins seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.
There was further discussion on the justification and resources available to offer helicopter life flight services to the community. The storage and expense of Jet A fuel and the availability of the service is currently a draw back. The Airport Master Plan meeting ended.
The commission placed a call to Scott Cromwell, Slate Architect to review the initial findings of the auxiliary power at the new hospital building. Scott will call back when the study is complete for the final decision on replacing the current generator or adding an additional on.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:37.
Board of County Commissioners
Carter County, Montana
Attest: s/ Steve Rosencranz Attest: s/ Pamela J Castleberry
Steve Rosencranz, Chairman Clerk of the Board